Lining up on the start line of the A race of the Scottish 10,000 metre championships just five days after the London Marathon may be a brave decision. But sometimes - and to be honest, not so rarely - courage is rewarded, as in my case in Glasgow.

My best marathon time in London was still noticeable in my legs on the way to Glasgow. Of course, because the 2:28:35 hours in London were hard, very hard. Nevertheless, I didn't want to miss out on a start in Glasgow. Why should I? London was history and I had nothing to lose, so I wanted to give the championship race (and myself) a chance and just go for it.

The pace was fast for the first two kilometres, then several groups formed and the pace around me slowed down as I had hoped. I passed the 5-kilometre mark after 16:28 minutes. I was hoping for a similarly fast second half. 200 metres later, two runners passed me and the group literally exploded, so I followed them and went all in earlier than I actually wanted to.

Twelve laps later, the clock stopped after 32:31 minutes, just 15 seconds off my 10-kilometre best time. I also ended up in 9th place in the Scottish Championships after 25 laps of the stadium under floodlights. What an evening at Crownpoint Stadium in Glasgow!

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